Brand and visual communications leader

I’m Kerry O’Sullivan, a brand and visual communications leader with nearly 30 years of experience helping organizations communicate clearly, consistently, and creatively. My background spans designing materials for technology, pharmaceutical, business, and higher education with experience ranging from brand identity and marketing campaigns to digital experiences, presentations, environmental graphics, and multimedia.

I believe good design should serve the organization and its audience—not the designer. I’m drawn to clean, thoughtful solutions that communicate clearly and reflect the character of the brand. Depending on the audience and the message, that might mean something polished and restrained or something more playful and unexpected. Either way, I approach design as a problem-solving exercise: understand the goal, understand the audience, and find the clearest and most effective way to connect the two.

My career has taken me from early internet startups and web design agencies to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, my alma mater and an internationally recognized leader in higher education. Along the way, I've had the good fortune to work with talented people across many industries and disciplines, and I've learned that some of the best work happens when designers are willing to listen, ask questions, and learn from the people who know the subject best.

At UNC, I began designing interactive educational experiences for faculty and instructional designers, including projects for the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Gillings School of Global Public Health. I worked on everything from multimedia learning experiences to UNC's early MOOC initiatives, and designed the user interface for UNC's Check-In attendance application, which received a UNC ITS Service Award for excellence in design.

Today, as Design Lead on the ITS Communications team, my role has expanded from designing individual communications to helping shape how a 400+ person technology organization presents itself. I initiated the development of the ITS visual identity to create a more cohesive, professional, and modern presence while strengthening its connection to the University brand. I established brand standards, provide creative direction, and help colleagues across ITS apply the brand consistently across presentations, campaigns, digital communications, events, and physical spaces.

I’m currently helping lead ITS through UNC's new enterprise brand transition, translating the updated University identity into practical standards, reusable assets, communications, and workplace environments. I enjoy the challenge of taking a broad brand strategy and figuring out what it means in practice: Which elements should we emphasize? How should they work across different audiences and formats? How can we make it easy for others to use the brand correctly? And how do we create something that people actually want to use? I see brand management as both a creative and collaborative discipline. A successful visual identity isn't just a collection of rules; it's a system that helps people communicate more effectively and gives an organization a shared sense of who it is.

I also enjoy the people side of creative work—working with subject-matter experts, mentoring students, sharing knowledge with colleagues, and finding ways to make creative teams more connected. At UNC, I launched a community for campus graphic designers that grew to more than 100 members, creating opportunities for designers who often work independently within their departments to share ideas, solve problems, and learn from one another.

I'm grateful for a career full of opportunities to challenge myself, develop my skills, contribute to meaningful organizations and connect with interesting people along the way.